were the German responsibility for starting the war, for the adoption of poison gas attacks, and for the bombing of open towns; the ineffectiveness of Zeppelin attacks and of the U-boats preventing the transport of food and troops; the arrival of the American armies; the Allied war aims; comparison of food conditions in Germany with those in Great Britain; and the extracts from German Socialist newspapers. Inhabitants of the recaptured territory testified to the effect of the propaganda on the German troops, remarking on the lowering of moral and the increasing number of deserters which they attributed to it.
Politicians and newspapers were also greatly excited, and raised loud cries for the creation of an organisation for counter-propaganda. Herr F. Stossinger described British propaganda in the Frankfurter Zeitung as "the most complicated and dangerous of all," and commented on its "countless" activities. The Minister of War, General von Stein was complimentary enough to say "In propaganda the enemy is undoubtedly our superior." (Berlin Morgenpost, August 25, 1918.) Other tributes were:
